Hotel Room Queen
by StereoRiptide
Summary: 3 Months they've been on the search for Stefan. After a night of nightmares in New Orleans, Damon receives a package that almost convinces him things will be ok. Almost. For now the search continues. -Companion to Klefan Adventures-
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**AN: Probably gonna be a one-shot unless a lot of you want me to continue it. Enjoy :)**

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><p><em><strong>~Hotel Room Queen~<strong>_

_I'll be your late night king  
>You'll be my hotel room queen<em>

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><p>"I'll put the bags away and get the bed ready." I tell her as we take in this particular hotel room.<p>

"K, I'm ready to sleep now anyways. I don't have the energy to shower tonight." She says, taking her pajamas out of her purple duffel bag and disappearing into the bathroom to change.

We'd been searching for Stefan for three months. It had been easy at first, with the multiple killing in a town at a time, but now they were getting sneakier. Bonnie had done another locator spell and it had shown Stefan in New Orleans. So that's where we are, and we're having no luck what-so-ever.

I pull a pair of navy blue and gray plaid pajama pants out of my black duffel bag and slip them on before Elena can return. I throw my pants and t-shirt into a corner. We don't have much time to wash clothes around here.

I climb into bed and pull the blanket up to my waist. As I lie there on my back, with my hands behind my head, my eyes started to get heavy and soon they were closed.

I could hear the bathroom door open and feel Elena climbing onto the bed. She lies her head on my bare chest, our legs tangling under the blanket as we both sigh in contentment.

"I really thought we'd catch him this time." I tell her, brushing the hair off of her face.

"It's alright. We'll find him next time." She replies with her eyes closed. I reach my hand down to rub soothing circles on her back.

"That feels nice." She whispers, already on the verge of sleep.

"Night 'Lena."

"Mmhmm" She moans, as her heartbeat steady's and her breathing evens out.

"I love you." I whisper.

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><p>My eyes snap open. The alarm clock reads 3:49am. Elena whimpers in her sleep, hitting my chest with her fist, tears fall down her face and wet my chest.<p>

Another nightmare.

I sit up against the headboard and pull her into my lap, rocking her back and forth like a baby, while humming Fall For You, by Secondhand Serenade.

This has become our nightly routine over the last few months. I tried waking her up a few times but the nightmares just started again when she fell back asleep. I also tried humming other songs but only this one seems to work. Girls and their weird minds. Go figure.

A few minutes later I finished humming the song, Elena's whimpers quieted and her body relaxed. A smile appears on my face. Only I have the ability to rid her of the nightmares. That must mean something, right? Have some significance?

My phone goes off on the bedside table, letting me know I just received a text. I grab it, smirking when I remember my decision to leave it on vibrate during the night so it wouldn't wake Elena.

_Aww don't you two look cute. Hope she enjoyed the nightmare. ~Stefan_

I sigh. He had been doing this to her every time we got close to finding him and Klaus. It was evident he had no humanity left. There was no trace of the little brother I'd known for so long.

He would invade her dreams whenever we got within a few miles of him, and give her horrible nightmares. We hadn't brought Vervain with us and Elena had stopped wearing her necklace awhile ago. It upset me to no end but I didn't press the issue.

I quickly type a reply and hit send.

_Good night, brother. Sleep well. We both send our love. ~Damon_

I put my phone back and lay down, lying Elena back on my chest. She sighs in contentment, happy to be free of the nightmares once again.

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><p>"Time to wake up, princess." I whisper in her ear, rubbing her back.<p>

"K, I'm ready." She sighs, opening her eyes and stretching her arms above her head.

"Come on. Let's get dressed and we'll grab breakfast on the way outta town." I say, climbing off the bed and walking over to the duffel bags.

"How long have you been up?" She asks, sitting up tiredly.

"About an hour. I called Bonnie. They're in Arizona now, so we better get going." I tell her, wriggling out of my pajama pants and throwing them in the dirty clothes pile.

"Oh, by the way, I bought coffee. It's on the table beside you if you want some." I say, pulling up my dark jeans.

"Thanks" She mumbles, gulping it down eagerly.

"No problem" I reply, pulling a white t-shirt over my head and reaching for my shoes.

Elena walks over to stand beside me and pulls her oversized t-shirt off, revealing her black sports bra.

"Can I borrow one of your shirts? All of mine are dirty." She asks, glancing at me with her big brown eyes.

"Sure. Here" I say, handing her a black v-neck t-shirt.

"Thanks." She says, carrying the shirt and disappearing into the bathroom once again. She emerges a few minutes later wearing my shirt, gray skinny jeans, and her old converse.

"Ready?" I ask, picking up our bags and walking towards the door. She nods and follows me down to the lobby.

"We're ready to check out." I tell the man at the main desk.

"Mr. Salvatore?" He asks, typing something into the computer.

"Yea." I reply, not really paying attention.

"Someone left a package for you." He says, reaching down to pick up a little brown package and sits it on the counter. "Have a nice day." He adds.

"Thanks." I mumble, grabbing the package and walking out to my Chevy with Elena. I put the bags in the trunk and climb in the front seat with the package in my lap.

"Well are you going to open it?" She asks excitedly. I pull the wrapping off quickly and open the small cardboard box.

"Stefan." I whisper.

I pull the things out, one by one, and hand them to Elena.

A t-shirt.

A blood bag with the letter A scribbled on the front.

And a leather journal labeled 2010-2011.

"The t-shirt has a hole in it, the blood bag is empty, and the journal is full." Elena says, eying the items curiously.

"He wants us to send him the things. A clean t-shirt, a new journal, and..." I say.

"What does the blood bag mean? And why is there an A on it?" Elena asks, examining it.

"A for animal. He wants us to send him blood bags full of animal blood. Klaus will think it's human." I say in wonder, a smile appearing on my face.

"Told you he would be alright." Elena says, hitting my arm. "Wait what's that?" She asks, looking in the bottom of the box.

"What?" I ask, looking in to see a piece of paper at the bottom. I pull it out and open it, recognizing the handwriting instantly.

"Stefan"

"What does it say?" Elena asks, trying to read over my shoulder.

"Sit down and calm down. I'll read it to you." I say, pushing her back into her own seat.

_Good luck. September 23rd 1841._

_~Your brother always, Stefan_

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asks, sitting back and crossing her arms.

"It means today is September 23rd." I say, sitting back with a smile.

"So?" She asks, confused.

"Today's my birthday."

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><p><strong>AN: Sooo what did you think? Love it? Hate it? Kinda like it? Lemme know people. XD<strong>


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews, alerts, and favorites guys. In response a question many of you asked...**

**Yes, Stefan is giving Elena nightmares when ordered to by Klaus. But there is also that small bit of humanity that he's trying to find inside himself. He's still on human blood but again, there's that part of him that want's to stop and that's the part that asked for the animal blood. Does it mean he'll actually drink the animal blood? I don't know.**

**As for whether or not Elena knows that a certain someone is giving her the nightmares...you'll just have to wait and find out.**

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><p><em><strong>~Hotel Room Queen~<strong>_

_I'll be your midnight king  
><em>_You'll be my hotel room queen_

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><p>"<em>Na na na naaaa na<em>" Elena hums, dancing in the passenger seat. I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Really? Again?" I ask, glancing at her. She doesn't hear me and continues dancing as much as the little space will allow.

"_Top down in the summer sun. The day we met was like a hit and run, and I... still taste it on my tongue._" She sings, following along with the song. I laugh and try to focus on the road in front of me.

"_The sky was burning up like fireworks. You made me want you oh so bad it hurt. But girl...in case you haven't heard..._" She pauses and freezes for a second, waiting on the chorus. When it starts she continues her dance, eyes closed.

"_I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover. Love you forever, forever is over..._"

"Can you get anymore teenager-ish?" I yell over the music. She looks at me and sticks her tongue out. I silently curse myself for agreeing to let her supply the music.

Ten minutes later and she finally turns the volume down until it's just background music, quietly filling the car.

"So where exactly in Arizona are they?" She asks, putting her purple sunglasses on and lying the seat back.

"A very small place called 'Nothing'." I tell her, flashing a quick smirk.

"I'm serious, Damon." She says, lifting the sunglasses to peek at me.

"So was I. It's a small town and it's called 'Nothing'." I tell her, focusing on the road.

"Figures." She mumbles. "Tell me a story." She says.

"A story? What are you, five?" I ask, laughing.

"No, I'm just bored and I want to hear a story." She says, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Fine. What kind of story?" I ask.

"Hmm...just pick something you've done." She says. I sit there thinking for a minute, trying to remember something she might actually enjoy hearing about.

"Ok. The year was 1902. I was living in New York, working as a painter. I loved my job, and people paid good money for my drawings of the civil war. They said it was almost as if I'd experienced it myself." I tell her, smiling. She raises her sunglasses and sits them on the top of her head, listening more intently now.

"Wouldn't someone have saved a picture of you or something, and your secret would be out." Elena says.

"I was using a different name. Now stop interrupting." I tell her.

"I was walking around the city one morning and overheard some men talking. They said they'd heard crazy stories about two brothers in North Carolina who claim to have built a flying machine that actually worked. That immediately caught my interest and by the next day I was on a train, headed south. It was roughly a day long journey."

"I reached Raleigh the next morning and started asking around. Most people would look at me as if I'd lost my mind, but a few were very proud to tell me about the two young brothers. They told me to take a train to a small town on the coast called Kitty Hawk, and I'd find them there. Well I hopped back on a train and was at the station in Kitty Hawk a few hours later. It didn't take long to find out where the brothers lived, they we're a well known pair in the small town."

"I met Orville first, and introduced myself as August William. He was a very amusing person, we became friends pretty quickly. I really enjoyed his company." I say, smiling in fond remembrance.

"August?" Elena asks as she burst out laughing. I reach over to smack her on the arm.

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She says, calming down.

"As I was saying..."

A few minutes later and her breathing evens out. She's asleep. Finally some peace and quiet in this god forsaken car. If I had any doubt before about vampires getting headaches she certainly cleared that up within minutes of getting in the car. Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't want any other person in the car with me right now. But having her this close, all the time, it doesn't exactly help the whole 'being in love with her' issue.

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><p>"Welcome to San Antonio, Texas." I whisper to myself, reading the sign as it passes on the side of the highway. I drive for a few more minutes until I spot a hotel that looks clean enough for my standards. I park the car and leave Elena sleeping as I got to check-in.<p>

"I need a room, please." I tell the man at the check in desk while looking down at my phone.

"Room for two, perhaps?"

My head snaps up, eyes scanning the area quickly, but Stefan's no where in sight. I'd know his voice anywhere, and that was most definitely Stefan's voice.

"Excuse me, sir?"

I look back to the check-in desk and find the same gray haired man standing behind the desk.

"Was someone else here? A second ago, I mean?" I ask, leaning towards him.

"No sir, just me I'm afraid. Were you looking for someone?" He asks, looking at me curiously.

"No, just thought I heard something, never mind." I say, shaking my head.

"So one room then, and how many guests?" He asks, typing it into the computer.

"Two, and we're only here for a night." I tell him, handing him my credit card.

"Here's your room key. Have a nice stay."

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><p>A few hours later and Elena is sleeping soundly in the hotel rooms bed. I pull out my phone and dial the other member of team badass' number.<p>

"Hey." I say, when the ringing stops.

"Do you know what time it is?" Alaric asks, clearly just waking up.

"Yea, it's 11:18." I tell him, speaking quietly.

"No, it's 11:18 wherever you are. Where I am it's after one in the morning, genius." He says, whispering.

"Oh sorry, didn't think about that." I mumble, smirking. _I so thought of that._

"Sure you didn't. Now what's going on?" He asks.

"I need you to send me something." I whisper.

"Um...ok. Where to, and what am I sending?" He asks hesitantly.

"Jenna." Elena cries in her sleep, tears streaming down her face once again.

_Damn it, they're supposed to be in Arizona. Elena deserved to get a good nights sleep._

"Never mind. Go to bed, Ric. Bye." I sigh, hanging up the phone and clicking the 'send text' button.

_I thought you wanted to fight this. You let me down. Again**.** -Damon_

I hurriedly click the send button and climb into bed with Elena, picking her up and rocking back and forth. Just like I've been doing for months. An hour goes by and finally my phone vibrates, alerting me of a new message.

_He's always watching. -Stefan_


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**AN: Sorry for the wait. Family issues.**

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><p><em><strong>~Hotel Room Queen~<strong>_

_I'll be your midnight king  
>You'll be my hotel room queen<em>

Stefan had major issues. That was obvious. The problem was, they were only obvious to me.

"Package, Sir."

"Thanks man." I reply, tucking it under my arm and walking to the car with Elena by my side.

"What do you think this one has in it?" She asks, closing the door.

"I don't know." I tell her, pulling the tape off.

"This is exciting." She says, leaning towards me.

"You sound like Caroline." I say, smirking at her.

"Oh just open the damn package already." She groans, sitting back. I pull the cardboard lid open and pull out a cd.

"What does it say?" Elena asks.

"_Damon's mix_" I say, throwing it in Elena's lap. She picks it up and examines it with a smile.

"Any letters?" She asks as I pull out a paper.

"Guess that means yes." She mumbles. "What's it say?"

"_Damon, thought you could use a break from all the 'Elena music'. This should rid you of the headache you get after hearing the same songs over and over. I remembered you liked these guys in 2001 when they first formed. _

_You can forget the animal blood. I want to learn to control the people stuff. _

_Have fun,_

_Stefan." _I read aloud to her.

"At least he's trying. And you so don't get a headache from my music, right?" She asks, crossing her arms.

"No, of course not." I tell her, shaking my head with a smirk. I pull out of the hotel parking lot and head towards the nearest highway.

"Are we still headed to Arizona?" She asks.

"Yea. I had Bonnie check again this morning, just to make sure. Apparently they decided to stay in one spot for awhile." I tell her, leaving out the part about them being near us last night.

"Hmm, well let's see what's on this disc." She says, pushing the cd into the player. The first song starts and fills the car. I laugh, a genuine smile etching itself across my face.

"What is this?" Elena asks, putting her sunglasses on.

"The best part of 2001, kid. A little band called _My Chemical Romance_." I tell her.

"Never heard of 'em, and don't really care for his voice." She says, shrugging.

"Your loss then." I tell her, turning the volume up.

"Here's a song that's just for you." I tell her, smirking. I sing along, remembering every word.

"_They're gonna clean up your looks, with all the lies in the books. To make a citizen out of you..." _I sing, smirking when Elena turns to stare at me.

"You seriously like this stuff?" She asks.

"Mmhmm" I reply, focusing on the music more than the road.

"Wow. I never would've thought of Damon Salvatore as a punk." She says, hitting my arm.

"Hey, I'm driving here, thank you." I tell her putting both hands in the air.

"Damon" She shrieks.

"Just kidding." I reply, putting my hands back on the steering wheel.

"Soooo...did you ever die your hair?" She asks, faking seriousness.

"Maybe" I reply, staring ahead.

"Seriously? What color?" She asks. I remain quiet and pretend to ignore her.

"Come on, Damon, tell me." She whines.

"Fine. I died it blonde, and... pink... once." I mumble.

"PINK?" She exclaims, shaking with laughter. "Light pink or, like, neon pink?" She asks.

"Neon pink." I tell her proudly.

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><p><strong>9 hours later.<strong>

"I think we should stop here. It's past eight." I say, as we enter New Mexico. We'd stopped for a couple bathroom breaks, and to eat lunch and dinner.

"I don't wanna stop. Can't we just drive through the night?" She asks, yawning.

"Don't you mean I drive through the night and you sleep?" I ask.

"Yea, that too." She says, closing her eyes. She reaches her hand towards me and I lace our fingers together. _If only you knew what this did to me._

"Vampires need sleep too, you know." I mumble, too low for human ears to hear. She's asleep within minutes.

_At least she'll sleep soundly tonight._ _I think it's time to tell her why she keeps getting nightmares. It might help her understand the importance of not just finding Stefan, but saving him from himself._

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><p><strong>8 Hours Later.<strong>

"Nooo" Elena moans in her sleep, rolling over onto her side.

"Ugh, Elena, please. No sex dreams about my brother while I'm in the car." I groan, releasing her to turn the cd up louder.

"D'm'n"

I freeze, thinking I misheard her, or that it was a part of the song. I reach for the volume, lowering it until it's barely background noise. _Wait, she isn't wearing Vervain. I can enter her dreams. But she'll be so pissed. She doesn't have to know. _

I pull the car over to the side of the highway and close my eyes. _Here goes nothing._

_I open my eyes and see myself lying against Elena. This must be different than the dream with Rose. Since I didn't create this one I can only watch. I'm covered in sweat and lying in my bed at the boarding house. I realize this must be the night I almost died from the werewolf bite a couple months ago. Elena looks tired and upset. I just look on the verge of death. Honestly not one of my better appearances._

"_I know you love Stefan." I force out. "And that it'll always be Stefan." I add. She lays down against me, lying her head on my shoulder and taking my hand in hers._

"_But I love you." I tell her, needing her to hear it before I die. The tears I couldn't see before fall down her cheeks._

"_You should know that." I tell her. It's getting harder and harder to speak._

"_I do" She whispers, sobbing silently._

"_You should've met me in 1864." I say. "You would've liked me." I say, smiling weakly._

_Elena lifts her head up to look at me._

"_I like you now." She whispers. I open my eyes to see her one last time. "Just the way you are." She adds as more tears fall from her eyes._

"_Hm" I mumble, trying to force my eyes to stay open. From across the room I see a revelation dawn on Elena's face, an understanding. She leans forward and presses her lips to mine. _

_A goodbye kiss._

"_Thank...you." I manage to get out._

"_Your welcome." She whispers, smiling._

_A small laugh escapes my lips. Then my eyes close, and my body stills._

_Elena appears to be holding back a sob as she looks at me. Her lower lip trembles._

"_Damon" She whispers. My body stays motionless._

"_Damon" She says, more forcefully this time, hand going up to cup my cheek._

"_Damon don't leave me." She sobs, lying her head back on my chest and grabbing onto my shirt._

"Elena I'm right here." I say from across the room, trying to get her attention. I can't stand seeing that much pain on her face. It's as if she can't hear me, she continues crying on my dead body.

"_Damon please. I'll do anything, just don't go. You can't leave me, Damon." She sobs, her whole body shaking._

"_Damon wake up. Please wake up." She cries, closing her eyes tight and imagining my eyes opening, a smirk on my face. Her thoughts seemed to appear in my mind._

"_You stupid, stupid man. Can't you see that I need you here?" She whispers._

_At least she would never yell again – there was no one to yell at. Damon had gone away. He had run away without her._

_She wanted nothing more than to follow. Nothing was real. Didn't he understand? She could not imagine a universe, no matter how large, without a Damon in it._

_There was no world for her, if there was no Damon._

The thoughts enter my mind with a jolt of power and my eyes snap open, mind returning to the car.

"You ok?" Elena asks from next to me. "Looked like you were having a nightmare." She adds.

"Yea, fine." I whisper, looking away so that she doesn't see the tears that wet my cheeks.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. (Not even a Salvatore.)**

**AN: Sorry everyone, I broke a finger playing softball. So now two fingers are taped together and typing is pretty hard. On top of that I'm having writers block for this story, and can't really decide where I want it to go. So I'm officially taking a break from writing TVD fics. (Except "My First Kiss", since I'm working with another author that's pretty cool.) **

**Sorry guys. Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. This will be labeled _Complete _until further notice.**

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><p><em><strong>~Hotel Room Queen~<strong>_

_I'll be your midnight king  
>You'll be my hotel room queen<em>

* * *

><p>"Damon? Daaaaamon?"<p>

"Leave me alone." I murmur, turning the windshield wipers on a higher speed. The rain was coming down in bucket loads, the sky a dark grayish-purple. Lightening would light up the highway every few seconds.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me what your problem is then I'll just have to entertain myself." She says happily, inserting my mixed cd back into the player. She presses the play button and I reach over to press stop.

"Ugh, you're so boring when you're moody." She sighs, sitting back and crossing her arms.

I step on the brakes and pull the car to the side of the highway, opening the door and stepping out into the pouring rain.

"What are you doing?" Elena yells after me. I ignore her and take another towards the woods.

"Stay in the car, Elena." I yell to her, disappearing into the trees.

I walk until my control breaks. I can't keep this up. It's not healthy. I throw my arms out, releasing a yell of mixed emotion. This is the result of keeping everything bottled up for so long.

Hate, anger, guilt, fear, love, care, remorse, pity, loneliness... They all blend together as I stand there, yelling as loud as my body will let me.

"WHY?" I yell to the sky, needing someone to blame. "WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?" I yell to god. I sigh and fall to my knees, mud soaking through the jeans.

"What did I do?" I ask, voice lowering to a whisper. "I regret all of the wrong I've done, and I can't change it. But I know I can change myself, and I've tried. I just want this one thing. Just help me save my brother and I'll do anything. Even become a priest, or... give up women for a decade." I flinch at that last line. Mentally punching myself for going that far.


End file.
